Peacetime Sunshine
by Vanto
Summary: Hayato always thought that becoming a man would be his "peak" of a sort. He'd be strong, respected, muscular (very important!) and wise, more than ready to overcome whatever challenge would dare to raise its head with a smile and his knowledge about the world. But such a life was definitely more complex than he envisioned.
1. Lightning tigers and Hana

Hayato always thought that becoming a man would be his "peak" of a sort. He'd be strong, respected, muscular (very important!) and wise, more than ready to overcome whatever challenge would dare to raise its head with a smile and his knowledge about the world.

What he didn't imagine is that the growing up would be less obvious and a lot less sudden, and no, by that, he didn't mean that he'd gain a sudden growth spurt of a sort. He meant the _responsibilities_ that come with being a man. The decisions to take, the inevitable moments where things seem sour, the need to, at times, figure out one's problems alone.

He never quite thought of that, but at times, Hayato yearned for the simpler times of being a boy aspiring to be something greater, if only because his life seemed less complicated.

….

The electric lions danced in the room, filling the air with sparks as they moved with grace only available to magical beings unbound by flesh. Behind them stood Diviners, struggling to contain the raw power of the spell and attempting to direct it towards some wooden dummies. The energy seemed to spread with every moment, seemingly threatening to destroy not only the room, but the entire house as well.

Ultimately though, with a roar of effort, the Diviners managed to successfully get the tigers to ram into their targets, canalizing the subsequent damage so that it'd limit to the dummies, instead of leading to the destruction of the room. They were mostly successful, though at least two tigers exploded with enough strength to toss the dummies around the room at high speed, almost hitting quite a few of the practicing mages.

This is probably why nearly all the persons in the room were huddled into a corner, gazing fearfully at the scattered targets, and the _one_ person in the room who did not move from his spot, sitting still in spite of the lightning tigers and the rampage of the dummies.

"P-professor! Are you well?"

Hayato sighed quietly, attempting to look casual. Truth to be told, he was quite surprised at the mayhem caused by his students, but he knew that he needed to master his emotions and remain stoic. Teachers were either proud or stern in the Wind Tribe, and a lot more often than not, they were the latter. He caught himself wondering, as he started getting up, the possibility that his "stern face" would only amuse his students, but he soon pushed away that particular bit of insecurity.

"Hm… quite a daring attempt at killing your teacher." He began, casually stroking his chin. "I thought that the tigers were the actual attempt, but it seemed that you were trying to bludgeon me all along."

"Professor, we apologize for our little training accident. Perhaps we pooled too much power?"

"Right. The tiger is only third in the Scroll Hierarchy, it looked as if you were trying to summon the ninth one." Chided Hayato.

"Our most sincere excuses, professor! This shall not happen again!"

Hayato raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised. In the Wind Tribes, the masters were harsh, and so were the students. They never flat out insulted one another, but at the same time, it was expected of a student to attempt to defend their skills so that the teacher could flex his analytics skills and explain why they weren't successful. Some could see it as inefficient, but such was his tribe's way.

In Hoshido, however, respect towards a superior is important. Whenever an older person, a teacher or someone higher in the hierarchy tells you something, then one is expected to respect and apply that, since obviously they were right. Hayato had met quite some trouble because of that, having expected that his students would push back a little or try to do something besides following his orders to the letter.

He did appreciate it a little, since he knew that the diviners back home would attempt to resist the advices of "a youth", but at the same time, it was almost as if he could get away with blatantly insulting them, which kind of unnerved him in a way.

"Hm… alright, next lesson is to fix the room using magic. Then we'll stick to the second scroll, tomorrow. You're free to go as soon as the place is clean."

"Right! Thank you professor!"

Hayato got up and chose to leave the room as his students got to work, pulling forth new scrolls to begin repairing the damage. Blue energy flowed forth out of the pages, slowly making its way over to the damaged portions of the room and repairing them, albeit at a slow pace unless the diviners were focusing their efforts. It was a little spell made by him, just in case someone did too much damage to their surroundings.

In fact, he wrote the scrolls wielded by his students. It was a little hobby that he did whenever he felt bored or had some time to practice, and recently, he had quite the time to practice.

It has been about two months since the end of the great Continental War with Nohr.

While the main army was holding off a vicious combined attack from the Mokushujins and Nohr, a group of heroes daringly lunged into the heart of the capital, single-handedly defeating the Nohrian generals and Nohrian royals, with Princess Elise, Prince Xander and King Garon falling victim to the blades of the liberating forces.

They were led by Kamui. Captured in her youth during the Cheve Ambush, the young woman ultimately went back to Hoshido and awakened to justice with the death of her queen and mother, causing her to turn against Nohr and slay her captors and those who swore to spread pain and misery through the country of the sun.

Needless to say, this made her immensely popular in Hoshido and the countries who suffered under Nohr, though Nohr themselves (who lost quite a few soldiers to her blade), Mokushu and Cyrkensia had a different opinion on her. Nowadays though, she retired to the castle, finally enjoying her hard-earned peace after having to battle her adoptive family and armies of soldier for months.

And Hayato followed her suit, for what betrothed would leave his future spouse behind?

…

Hayato exited the house where the teachings took place, yawning a little and closing his eyes in irritation when the sun shone on him. After spending months in Nohr, a place that was never really graced by the sun, getting used to it again was quite the challenge. Especially its warmth : His current uniform, which covered him head-to-toe, made the heat outright unbearable, forcing him to leap towards a small rock, hidden away beneath some trees in the Shirasagi castle.

The castle's garden was quite enormous, enough that one could easily host battles within it. Several small walls separated sections of the garden. As of right now, he was in the place furthest away from the entrance, the "training area". While most trained in the small houses across the lush garden, Hayato could spot the rows of Samurais nearby, practicing their swordsmanship under the watchful gaze of Hana.

At times, King Ryoma or Princess Kamui liked to watch over the Samurais or, when they had a lull, even join them a little. This meant that a lot of young warriors were doing their very best in case one royal passed by, swinging their wooden swords as hard as they could at the air, filling the garden with intense cries of effort. This seemed to please Hana, who needed to put in little effort to inspire her soldiers.

Eventually, she had a hunch and turned around, facing Hayato and somehow spotting him on his rock, brush and half-open scroll in hand. He growled a little, but it failed to ward her off, with Sakura's former retainer approaching Hayato with a smug smile on her lips, stroking her chin while doing so.

"Ohoh! Hello Hayato!"

"Hello, Hana." He said, attempting to keep writing on his scroll. "I'm a bit busy, and so are you, could you please go back to training your men?"

"Well, it doesn't look like I really need to." She commented, pointing at the rows of pupils. "What about you? Shouldn't you be watching over your own class?"

"Class's over for me. So I'm catching up on my writing."

"Shouldn't you repair the room though?" she asked. "We've heard the thunders and those flashes of light, and I bet all the people this side of Bunkatsu heard of it too!"

"That's what my students are doing right now." He said. "I'm quite surprised that you even heard those over the noises that your students are making."

"The cries are an important part of being a samurai, you know." Answered an annoyed Hana. "Anyway, what are you writing ?"

"A scroll." He said. Hana leaned forward, forcing Hayato to attempt to hide it from her by lifting it up. The samurai leader attempted to take another peek, but Hayato riposted by holding it against his chest, though she used her high speed to try to sneak behind his back, forcing him to lean to the side, still holding it against his chest.

"H-hey, what's with the sudden interest?!"

"I just like being curious. And you've been on a roll with those scrolls."

Hana briefly stopped and took the time to chuckle, realizing her little rhyme. Hayato was a bit less amused though, valiantly attempting to look serious in spite of the ridiculous little game that they were playing.

"So, is it a new scroll?"

"Y-yes." He said, hoping that Hana would be content with such knowledge.

"What is it? Is it a destructive new spell?"

"W-well, it's a secret! It's… important for mages, you can't really mess up when writing a spell, because it's a ton of work! It's not like… just swinging a sword in different ways and calling it a combination."

A glint awakened in Hana's eyes and she made "that stare" at Hayato. The one that she shot whenever she saw a challenge to overcome. At time, the young diviner wondered how Sakura, the quietest princess, could have such a fiery samurai as a retainer and friend. Perhaps "Kazahana", as she was called by some of her fans, was a model of a sort towards the young girl, helping her with her timid attitude.

"Hey now! Don't you go around dismissing swordsmanship! It's at least as ancient as magic! And believe me, you can't just swing a sword and hope for the best! They're pretty heavy to use, first and foremost, and you need to care for them! You… rah, let me show it to you."

Hayato felt like yelling when Hana casually pulled one sword out of its sheath, holding the handle at him in a manner that just dared him into trying to take the sword. Eager to end this as quick as he could, the diviner quickly closed his scroll, putting the brush and scroll in his pocket (he'd need to wash it later) and attempting to get an hold of the sword with one hand… only to quickly shoot his hand up to grab it, realizing that the blade was indeed a bit too heavy!

Hana seemed briefly triumphant, staring down at Hayato in a content manner as he struggled with the Katana. He did bother stepping up, but he found it hard to really hold it one-handed. He _could_ just drag it, but then the blade would perhaps be dirtied because of the grass and mud, and Hana would be in an even worse mood.

To her credit though, the swordmaster was quick to pick it back up, flourishing the sword briefly before sheathing it casually. To his annoyance, he realized that the girl, who was about only one year older than him, was that much stronger than he was, at least in terms of raw strength.

And while the average diviner could perhaps shrug it off and expect it, Hayato knew that his pride would goad him into never forgetting the accident, though he was also aware that Hana herself would gladly remind him of it whenever he'd get a bit too cocky for her liking.

At the very least, he wasn't humiliated in front of his students, and Hana's were too busy doing their yelling exercise to really notice the discussion. Sometimes, he wondered if they were really her students, or if she just declared herself as their teacher and they were all too busy yelling to notice or care.

"Swords are hard to wield, Hayato. I thought you'd be a bit aware of it since Lady Kamui is also in my craft."

"Right, I was humbled today, and I'll never forget this lesson. Can I go back to my work now?" Answered the young mage, in a quick manner.

"Alright then."

Hana turned around but then chose to spin back once more.

"By the way, you should go see her! I don't know why you're out there writing on a scroll when she…"

"She has her retainers." Said Hayato. "And she knows that I need a life of my own. Just go away… please."

Hana briefly looked away, and while she did proceed to run back to her students, Hayato knew that she's probably gossip about her encounter to Sakura, or Subaki, or Hinata, perhaps.

The young mage sighed and chose to focus on finishing his scroll.

…

Luckily enough for Hayato, the following hour was a little better. His ego healed thanks to the enthusiastic demands for autographs (he put a magic ward on his own name to make it glow in the dark) and he had not been confronted again.

The young man had made some friends amongst Kamui's army, but admittedly, he was always a bit lacking on the social aspect, which means that he wasn't well-acquainted with others yet. Kamui did try to introduce him to some people, but Silas was away right now, Oboro was with the prickly prince, Setsuna was probably stuck in some god-forsaken place after wandering unto a net and Azura was… was…

Away.

There was her retainers, perhaps, but…

"Lord Hayto."

Hayato nearly leapt to the end of the small little wooden hall he was currently walking across out of sheer fright, though he converted that energy into his heels instead, turning around at the speed of lightning, attempting to look like he wasn't frightened nor surprised.

The garden on their left was devoid of trees, being essentially grass with a small lake of a sort inside of it, and there was nothing but a white wall on their right, and _Hayato was walking on wood_. How could Kaze be so swift?

"Y-yes, Kaze?"

The ninja chuckled slightly, but opted not to comment on it.

"Lady Kamui would like to see you. She's heard of an altercation of a sort with Lady Hana."

"A-an altercation ? W-wait, who told her that?"

"Hinata was told of the accident by… Setsuna. I do believe, however, that the exact details ended up lost."

"How so?"

"You apparently were offered a sword by Hana and battled her in the wood, in a process that he was quite quick to describe as "epic". It seemed that she got the upper hand however. In the end, she turned around and said that you were "already defeated", at which point you fell on your back."

Somehow, he thought that the accident got to one specific person before Setsuna, though the exaggerated fantasies definitely were Hinata's making. The man could describe a short, plain trek to the village and make it into some kind of country-crossing, action-heavy adventure story.

"D-d-do I look defeated?" Said a flustered Hayato. "L-look, my uniform is alright!"

"I do not believe that such a battle has taken place. However, Kamui would very much like to be reassured."

"I-I'll go right away!" He said.

Kamui was sweet, but somewhat naïve, to the point where part of him believed that she was probably actually thinking that he did get into a fight with Hana. She wasn't dumb at all, as attested by her victory against Nohr, but Kamui was definitely the kind of person who'd partly believe such a story.

It didn't help that she was concerned over his integration with the other retainers. Even if Kamui didn't believe in the embellished story, she likely knew that there was some truth, and probably wanted to know if Hayato was alright.

"I'll go then. Take care and… erm, Kaze."

"Should I attempt a more casual approach for our next encounter?

"Y-yeah. Not that I'm scared but it's more respectful, you know?"

"Of course."

Kaze vanished, and Hayato made his way over to Kamui's quarters, making his way through the long wooden hallways of a sort and reaching the castle's entrance, briefly gazing at it before entering the place.

The palace's interior was predictably giant, but he easily made his way over to the large stairs on the left, walking up with his scroll in one hand and his other hand in his pocket, though not the one that housed the brush. It was a bit inkier, to put it plainly.

Upon reaching the royal quarters (with the palace becoming quieter), he kept ascending up until he reached Kamui's own floor, being greeted by a giant painting depicting her draconic form. The other painting, meanwhile, represented Kamui, surfing through Raijinto's lightning and one of the Fuji Yumin's arrows to strike King Garon with Blazing Yato.

A replica of it could be found in front of the artworks, on a golden altar of a sort, in the mouth of the great Dawn Dragon, with a tiny statuette of Hoshidian people holding the blade up as well.

Hayato didn't bother to look at the third painting, which depicted the princess and her betrothed together amongst the cheery trees, with the artist going all out on Kamui's long, flowing pink-hair, painting them as if they were similar to the cherry blossom. He was quite a bit more plain in the artwork, though at the very least, he was depicted with his favourite scroll, the Sheep spirit (of all things). There were some differences, like her being slightly taller than he was and her red eyes being open (whereas she liked to have them squinted "very hard" as she described) but otherwise, it was… accurate, he guessed.

It was a beautiful artwork. All three were quite beautiful, in fact. Which made it quite a shame that she didn't see them yet.

And she was unlikely to see them for a while.

Hayato kept going into her quarters (though they were perhaps his as well), navigating through the hallways to try to find her. On the way, though, he decided to drop his scroll, figuring that he'd work on it later.

Luckily enough, while navigating through Hoshidian architecture was complex, Hayato was smart enough not to get so easily lost in his own home, and easily reached his extra private room, opening up a small shelf and putting the scroll inside. He figured that he'd use a key, but Kamui was respectful of his stuff and no lock was ever going to stop Kaze, so he didn't bother to do anything beyond closing it.

Hayato sighed… and, at that precise moment, something jumped on his back!

…

**N/A : **Here is my not-prequel but not-sequel to Peacetime Confusion. Peacetime Sunshine! Don't worry, the name will make sense as I go through the fic. Well, I hope at least.

This fanfiction feature the post-war adventure of Hayato and Kamui after the events of Birthright, and their little up-and-down in Hoshido, the land of the east!

Unlike Beruka and Corrin, who were adults and relatively mature, I see both Kamui and Hayato as being 16 to 17 (and I'm being generous), which means that they're both a bit too young to have Rhajat or Kana yet, so the fanfic's dynamic is bound to be different.

Kamui especially has one (more) major change compared to Corrin, though I think I made it a bit obvious, haha!

I'll upload at a slower pace for this one, since one chapter a day is pretty weird. Every four days, maybe less! This also means that there should be less chapters, though I intend on still doing a lot of them!

Reviews and critics are very much appreciated, especially for this first chapter, don't hesitate to offer advices. I need those to progress after all!

See you soon !


	2. Operation Shirasagi : Begin

"K-Kamui!"

Hayato leaned forward, attempting to keep his composure and stance straight. To his credit, he had steeled himself for such a gruesome ambush ever since he stepped into Kamui's quarters, though he couldn't help but flinch nonetheless.

"Hm? Yeah, Hayato?"

The young man craned his neck to stare at Kamui, and sighed.

"Could you… not do that? B-because I don't fall for those anymore."

She chuckled a little and let him go, unwrapping her arms around his torso and walking back a little, allowing him to turn around and lean on the drawer with a tired sigh. She just giggled in answer, perhaps glad that her little sneaking "attack" of a sort still had an effect on him.

Kamui could be described as a petite woman, being a bit shorter than Hayato himself (though he had a little growth spurt during the war). For a woman who slew some of the strongest warriors on Nohr, she looked outright harmless, with long pale pink hair, pale skin and a mischievous smirk on her face at all time. Apparently, she was very similar to the former queen Mikoto, sharing a similar beauty mark and soft facial features.

However, she inherited draconic features from… Sumeragi? He guessed? Her pointy ears were easy to see at least, and her red draconic eyes were always hidden away beneath what she called her "super squint style" eyes, though she opened them plenty of times in the war.

Right now though, her eyes were closed, and Hayato winced when he glimpsed the nasty scar over them. Even after receiving healing magic from some of the finest healers in Hoshido, it was telling that her scar still looked pretty bad, spreading over her eyes, like a black line over them. King Garon's last torment : A scar to make Kamui blind, as a sort of eternal reminder of the battles that she fought, and as a way to deny her the right to fully enjoy the peace that she fought so hard to acquire.

Kamui's senses allowed her to adapt, and it was hinted that there was a chance of recovery because of her draconic healing and constant usage of healing magic, but it'd take a long time to undo, forcing her to try and adapt.

To the outside world, she seemingly adapted quickly, keeping her smile up in spite of her handicap, and still being quite the blade, but Hayato and, he hoped, everyone in the castle knew that it was a lie, for the Hoshidian princess…

"What are you day-dreaming about?" She asked, getting close to him. Hayato, realizing that he was daydreaming, coughed.

"I'm just… thinking about how I'm going to yell at Hinata for his little story."

"Haaa, the Hana one?"

"Yes. You know that it… well, it totally didn't go according to what he said, right? First off, if we truly fought, it would've brought much more attention."

She smiled at him, and they began to walk out, with Hayato opting to hold her hand to help her navigate. The princess didn't seem to mind, though she grasped at the nearby walls, dragging her hand along as she walked. Going by her attire (a long white dress with a high collar, similar to Queen Mikoto's clothes), she was just off her little promenade with Sakura.

There wasn't much for a blind woman to see, but the princess liked to sit down and just let the others narrate the environment for her, to see how vivid they'd get. Apparently, Sakura was surprisingly good, though she had a tendency to repeat herself. Hinoka, when she was around, was apparently a bit worse at describing the place, but the princess's genuine effort was appreciated.

"You cannot have a retainer and a royal betrothed, and son of the wind's tribe, and great mage, merely throw down after all."

"Of course." She said. "But at the heart of every rumor lays a grain of truth! What did happen?"

"Nothing too grave. She gave me her sword after I dismissed swordmanship, I failed to really properly lift it, and that was… that."

"That's still pretty mean of her." Said Kamui. "Do you want me to go have a little talk with her?"

"No-no-no, it's perfectly okay! I… got a bit carried away."

He didn't want to really just look like the kind of man who talk big and then hide behind his girlfriend, especially when said girlfriend was struggling with her own issues. Hayato had his pride, after all, and would need to find a way to trick Hana back, nothing more, nothing less.

"How was your day though? Beside that."

"It was quite good. My students are pretty obedient and… well, actually, they struggle with the scrolls."

They opened the door, and Hayato laid his eyes on their shared room. A large, spacious room, with a circular window and some closets and shelves. One could see the Blazing Yato near the room, placed at a spot where the light of the sun shone upon it on a golden altar. It was very much still brimming with power, since Kamui regularly brought it with her, to the point where it looked like it was absorbing the sun's light.

Two beds were close to the Blazing Yato, each small enough for one person to comfortably sleep in, with a white panel between them. Hoshido was quite clear on the fact that the two royals should wait to be old enough before they could procreate, since they were still budding adults that needed to be mature enough before they could raise a child.

Hayato was fairly scandalous at the idea of apparently still being too young to really even sleep on the same bed as Kamui, but truth to be told, he found that part of love to be pretty gross (though he never communicated it to anyone but Kamui, afraid that they'd either laugh or would make it their life work to try and dispel the awkwardness). The princess seemingly didn't want, though she admitted to him that she wished to recover her sight before that.

So they just slept on different beds. Kamui suggested switching beds once, to trick the family, but the young man feared that doing so would cause Ryoma to burst through the wall to fry him with Raijinto.

"Hm, I could hear the lightning from there." She said. "It's not your fault though."

"I think it is. The way we do these scrolls in the wind tribe is a bit different than usual, I… don't think I'm doing it the Hoshidian way."

"You could copy regular scrolls, no?"

She let go of his hand and started to twirl a little, before falling unto her own bed, "staring" at the ceiling.

"Yeah but I want to have my own mark… Well, beside, I fixed the previous little quirks, so it should be okay."

"Hm… you know, writing scrolls has to get pretty boring, right?"

"R-right, it is a little boring."

"So! How about we go out and to exciting stuff, starting from tonight?" She almost yelled, standing up and pointing at him with a cheeky grin on her face.

"W-w-wait! What do you mean?"

"Well, I asked Reina and Kaze to make a list of things that we could all do together! Or two of us. Like… you and Reina, or me and Kaze."

"I see, that's-hey, wait, we haven't agreed on it!"

"Well, the first two aren't really bad." She said. "If you're too uncomfortable, it's fine, we'll just kind of stop…"

Kamui chose to bite her lips, perhaps thinking of what would happen if he were to back of. Perhaps she did so unintentionally, or perhaps she did so knowing full well that he'd feel guilt upon seeing that familiar expression?

"Well, I thought it could be fun." She admitted. "It's just that… we're not spending that much time together. I… I mean, it's fine! I don't want to be that one lady who cling to her fiancé, but…"

"Oh, well, I'd love to hang out with you of course!" He said, getting up and then trying to kneel next to her, quietly using his hand to try to hold her left one. It was fairly cold to the touch, but he appreciated it? It was complicated to describe. "But it's just a bit… well, what do you have planned?"

"A little walk across the castle tonight. There's a party tonight in town, so there may be less people than usual. We'll just… walk."

"That's a… good idea. And maybe we could talk to someone?"

"Of course. First person that we s… that you see, heh."

Her smile briefly faded, but then came back, bigger than ever, though she knew, somewhere, that he saw through it anyway.

"That's a good idea. But… permission to ignore Azama if he come up?"

"Permission granted, sir." She laughed. "Aw, he's sweeter than he acts though."

"Hm, yes, but… well, for a first night out, we should try and not get involved with the flashier members of the army, right?"

"We'd need to avoid everyone!" She joked.

"Well, if we encounter… Yukimura, then things will be fine, right?"

"Yukimura? Yeah, he's… got his things in order. Anyway, so, we have our things in order, right?"

"Yeah, let's go out together." Offered Hayato, smiling a little at her, though he soon leapt up like a frightened cat when he heard a little sound.

"Wonderful news!"

Kaze just… popped up out of a tiny door in the wall, revealing both him and Reina, Kamui's other retainer. The Hoshidian hero seemed hardly surprised, but Hayato nearly screamed, only stopping after realizing that it wouldn't look good. Instead, he attempted to adopt a "stern anger" sort of reaction, folding his arms and impatiently tapping his foot on the floor.

"Heyah." Said Kamui.

"W-w-what… what are you doing here? Were you observing us?"

"What else, milord?" Asked Reina. "We wanted to see if you were going to agree but… ahh, we feared that our presence might intimidate you."

"We do hope that this will not deter you from partaking in the activities." Said Kaze. "Though consider it as a necessary evil of a sort. We must protect you against assassins, after all, so it is our duty to watch even when our presence would be… intimidating."

"This is also why our activities will be done altogether! If any assassin attempt to lay a hand upon you, it will be our responsibility to prevent that by cutting off the hand that'd attempt that, and the arm tied to it, and the person tied…"

"I-I get it. Well, we can fend off any assassins that'd attempt to come at us but you're right. So… what's the full plan though?"

"That's a secret, my dear!"

"But if you ever need, then we'll drop."

"It'll be okay. I've handled Nohrians and Faceless with ease, how dangerous could be a simple walk around the castle be? I shall pass this test."

"Excellent! Well, I'm off to get ready, let's meet in… one hour or two, alright?"

"Sure thing! I'll be ready too!"

…

Hayato wasn't ready.

He knew that it was only a single walk, and that they were unlikely to meet too many people, and that his current clothes were fancy enough, but the young man desired to look suitable for a walk outside. He was, after all, the future heir to the position of leader of the Wind Tribe, and a royal fiancé should never look undignified, at least, in his opinion.

He did try to seek counsels from Fuga once via a letter, but the bald man never had to face such a choice in his life. Wind Tribe leaders had little regards for apparel and fancy clothing. And there were plenty of tales of confused Hoshidian diplomats expressing confusion at the lack of attires from the leaders, with said leaders proceeding to laugh at them.

The founder of the tribe, known as Gake, decided such a tradition. Future leaders had their chest bare (or mostly bare for women) to show that they were in sync with the environment and did not need to protect themselves from the cold by artificial means. Hayato would need to do the same one day, but researching magic and working out was quite difficult.

To make things short, Fuga had no real fashion tips to bestow upon his son, and at the moment, the young prodigy was very much regretting not asking Oboro instead, as he vainly fought to try to put a fancy shirt above the fancy shirt that he chose to wear over his fancy shirt, only taking said shirt off because his nice vest couldn't be seen with all those fancy shirts, and said vest's color was similar to his pants, making it precious to his ensemble. It also made him uncomfortably hot, so he had to chose another pair, leading to a switch of upper clothing, but since they weren't up to his tastes, he had to take those off and find something else that could fit the color.

"I'm satisfied." He finally said to himself, looking at a mirror.

Then, he wasn't satisfied.

But before he could continue, alas, a shadow emerged from beneath the door, and Hayato turned around, attempting to look suitably regal.

"You may enter."

"Lord Hayato." Said Kaze, with the ninja opening the door. Stepping into the room, The ninja's eyes wandered over to the piles of discarded clothes, but he didn't allow any expression to creep up on his face, fully aware that Hayato could react badly do it. Then again, the ninja was likely used to witnessing bizarre things by now, especially with Reina and Kamui around.

"We must join up with Lady Kamui and Lady Reina. Are you ready?"

To say "not now" or admit defeat and try to have Kaze help would perhaps be pragmatic, but alas, he did not want to admit that fashion managed to defeat him. Plus, he could pretend that it was to amuse the two women.

"Of course I am. Let us venture forth, Kaze!"

"… As you wish." He said, as if he Hayato said his last words before an execution. Before leaving, Hayato briefly picked up a small scroll on a table near his room, quickly using a minor magical spell to lift the discarded clothes and put them back where they belonged, to the ninja's brief interest.

"It would be rude to just leave a mess within my own room!"

"Indeed. This spell is incredibly precise, milord."

The green-haired man was looking pretty formal, with a long-sleeved green shirt, blue pants and black gloves. However, Hayato could still tell that he was carrying weapons. At the very least, he had a visible wakizashi on his belt, but it was likely that the man had some more weapons hidden away beneath his sleeves, in case someone attempted to perform a prodigiously stupid act.

Hayato, by contrast, has a yellow and red ensemble (thanks to all the red dots on his haori). While certainly beautiful, it looked a bit… too much, and the fact that Kaze was looking fairly casual made Hayato realize that, perhaps, Reina and Kamui opted for lighter clothes as well.

Exiting the room and walking down the hall only made Hayato's nightmares came true, as the female lord and retainer walked into view. Like Kaze, Reina was very much casual, with her hair loose and a set of blue clothes. Unlike the ninja, who had the subtle threat of a sword, she had her naginata on her at hand, awkwardly moving the weapon around to try and hide it.

Kamui, meanwhile, was wearing a white kimono, with a pink haori on top of that. Her long pink hair was tied into a large bun, and he could swear that she bothered to put on some lipstick and even make-up, in an attempt to hide her rather nasty scar over her eyes. It was only half-successful, but the fact that she looked utterly beautiful even with the scar somehow visible was nonetheless extremely impressive.

This made him blush, and he awkwardly attempted to look more dignified, aware that she couldn't see him. _Reina_, However, could do so, and she chuckled a little upon seeing Hayato's expensive get-up. Kamui only smiled a little, but quickened her pace in a manner akin to a dancer, reaching out to try to hug the prodigy. Once more, Hayato's pride overtook him, and instead of hiding behind Kaze, he simply let the dragon princess hug him, with her promptly wrapping her arms around him.

"Whoah! You're dressed nicely, Hayato!" She laughed a little, briefly running her hands across his arms and shoulder. "What color is it?"

"It's, erm, gold. Huh… you're very pretty as well." He complimented, attempting to look dignified and composed in the face of her approach. Kaze failed to suppress that one chuckle.

"It was only a walk across the castle, milord !" Said Reina. "You look ready to meet Lord Ryoma and Lady Scarlet ! A wise decision on your part, since…"

Kamui laughed out-loud a little, and Reina backed off, seemingly because she delivered more information than she needed.

"I appreciate our little talk, but do you know what's even better? The little trip across Shirasagi that we're going to partake in! Yay!"

"Yay!" Said Reina, infected by Kamui's optimism.

Kaze raised his arms stoically. "Yay."

And Hayato also did the same, only now realizing that he was perhaps in trouble.

"Yay!"

…

**N/A **: Kamui's very different from Corrin, but she'll have similar issues. They lived the same life but had very different choices after all.

I picked Kaze and Reina as retainers because they made sense, imo. Also because Kaze wasn't even mentioned in the last fic (for reasons that may be clear in the future), so I thought that the man deserved a little starring role. I'll try to squeeze in most of the characters though, especially Hinoka!

Reviews and critics are appreciated!

See ya!


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